 Martin Sorrell |
WPP boss Martin Sorrell has ended his bid to block Bain Capital's $1.3B takeover of Asatsu-DK, Japan's No. 3 ad agency.
The British ad/PR conglom, owner of a nearly 25 percent stake in ADK, had maintained that the private equity firm's offer had undervalued the assets of the Japanese agency.
Bain announced that WPP has now agreed to withdraw legal proceedings against ADK, pending the successful completion of the tender offer.
It would then discuss an investment by WPP as a non-controlling minoring shareholder, according to a report in the Financial Times.
WPP and ADK had a cross shareholder and business alliance for the past two decades.
ADK plans to sell its investment in WPP, which is valued around $550M and scout for opportunities beyond the Japanese market.
Bain's tender offer for ADK closes Dec. 6.
“We now hope ADK’s other shareholders will recognise the attractive valuation and liquidity opportunity presented in our fair and fully priced offer, and tender their shares,” David Gross-Loh, Bain managing director, said in a statement.
Public Policy Holding Company registered 23.8 percent Q3 growth to $48.8M, with organic growth contributing 4.5 percent and the balance driven by merger & acquisition activity.
Publicis Groupe reported 3.1 percent in Q3 growth to $4B, sparked by a 3.6 percent jump North America, its biggest market.
WPP suffered a 10.2 percent drop in 1H revenues to $6.7B and a 47.8 percent plunge in operating profit to $297M.
Interpublic reported Q2 net revenues dropped 6.6 percent to $2.2B and operating income tumbled 23.4 percent to $243.7M. 
WPP has adopted a gloomier profit and sales forecast due to a deteriorating Q2 financial performance triggered by weak client spending as companies cope with the challenging economic backdrop.
